Kundalini Yoga Glossary
Manas
The recording layer of the mind, receiving the impressions the senses gather from the outside world.
Meaning
What Manas Means
Manas is one of the four functions of the mind described in Kundalini Yoga philosophy, together with Ahangkar (the ego), Buddhi (the mind that reasons, remembers and holds the subconscious) and Chitta. Manas is the recording layer: it receives the impressions the senses gather from the outside world, before any of the other three functions interpret or act on them.
Manas is associated with Tamas, one of the three Gunas. Life circumstances ruled by Manas are contractive and introspective, oriented inward, a time the mind uses to protect itself rather than expand or take risks.
In Practice
How It’s Used
In the teacher training, Manas is taught as part of the Nine Aspects of the Mind, alongside Ahangkar and Buddhi. Combined with the Negative Mind, Manas forms the first aspect, the Defender: the part of the mind that functions on fear and instinct and defends itself against anything it reads as a threat.
Students work with the Defender meditation for this aspect: seated with an elongated spine, focus at the eyebrow point, hands in Gyan Mudra, chanting the Gobinde Mukanday mantra for 31 minutes. The practice is used for subconscious blocks, particularly around fear.
